New technologies to aid Marines and other U.S. military forces
engaged in urban combat are explored in a recent report from the
secretive JASON scientific advisory group.

"The JASON study focused on the following topic areas: squad-level
communications; location, navigation, and maps; sensing through
walls; countering snipers; and uses for UAVs," according to the
unclassified report, a copy of which was obtained by Secrecy News.

Conclusions range from prosaic -- "the most pressing technological
need is a radio for every infantryman" -- to seemingly futuristic:

"Technology exists which should allow a small array of microphones
to be attached to a soldier's helmet, along with a small
microprocessor that is activated only when a supersonic shock wave
from a sniper's bullet is detected. The array determines the
direction of the sniper... without distracting the soldier."

The JASON study addresses a spectrum of complex technological
issues with unusual lucidity that makes them at least partially
comprehensible to a non-specialist reader.

The JASON group cultivates a slightly-frayed mystique that extends
even to its peculiar name. Some say it is an allusion to Jason
and the Argonauts. Others say it is an acronym for the late
summer and autumn months when JASON does most of its work: July,
August, September, October, November.

The new study includes JASON in its list of acronyms (p. 101) but
provides no expansion of the term.

See "Sensors to Support the Soldier," JASON, February 2005 (1.6 MB
PDF file):

There has long been a consensus that the export of certain military
or dual-use technologies must be regulated.

But the application of export controls has also drawn occasional
protests from affected industries, and in some cases has become so
burdensome as to have unintended adverse consequences on U.S.
scientists. (See, e.g., "Controls on 'Deemed Exports' May
Threaten Research," Secrecy News, May 2).

The Congressional Research Service recently prepared a useful
introduction to the subject.

See "The Export Administration Act: Evolution, Provisions, and
Debate," updated May 5, 2005:

In an implicit acknowledgment of the limitations of congressional
oversight, the House Armed Services Committee asked the Department
of Defense to provide it with a comprehensive inventory of DoD
intelligence programs.

"The committee believes that it does not have complete visibility
into some defense intelligence programs that do not clearly fall
into the Joint Military Intelligence Program (JMIP) or under the
Tactical Intelligence and Related Activities (TIARA) categories."

"Specifically, the committee notes that individual services may
have intelligence or intelligence-related programs such as science
and technology projects or information operations programs related
to defense intelligence that are embedded in other service budget
line items."

See Section 932 of the pending House version of the 2006 Defense
Authorization Act here:

In the pending Defense Authorization Act, the House Armed Services
Committee also directed the Department of Defense to develop a
strategy for better integrating open source intelligence into the
military intelligence production cycle.

"The amount, significance, and accessibility of open-source
information has exploded," the Committee said, "but the
Intelligence Community has not expanded its exploitation efforts
and systems to produce open-source intelligence."

See Section 931 of the House version of the 2006 Defense
Authorization Act here: